Of Fire and Ice
by Swords Divine Light
Summary: They were nothing more similar than fire and ice, but that didn't mean ice couldn't be melted and warmed by fire.


AN: Wow I haven't written anything in a while have I...? I guess things have been keeping me busier than I intended. _ Anyway, here's some Vi/Cait fluff 'n drabble 'n... stuff so, enjoy I guess. Or hate it. Whatever floats your boat.

Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to Riot Games.

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The dull night air nipped at her exposed skin, slinking into her nostrils and burning with a distinct sharpness as if the air she breathed itself was created purely of ice shards. Snow fell in a light storm, and her boots created an echoing pattern as step after step she trekked on the white plastered sidewalk, destroying the untainted blanket by settling her footprints as first into the expanse beside great, half-white painted street lamps.

_Crunch, crunch, crunch._

Her hands were cold, though stuffed in her pockets to keep the blood from retracting further behind the skin, they were stiff and painful to move. Her hat and Rifle remained at home, along with her partner, needless on her short journey around the block to berate herself for her everlasting mistakes- she just wanted to be alone to think...

If she could only capture Jinx, how many would be spared?

Though the death rate had hardly risen at all, she still felt as if it was her fault. How many lives had she wasted in her failure...?

None of them should have died- not in her city.

And what if her enforcer was severely injured...? What would be left of the small brunette then?

It was a morbid thought, one that drained the blood further from her skin and froze her faster.

_So cold..._

The woman veered to the side slightly, moving into a small secluded area where building met building and a bench of sorts could be made of two adjoining brick walls and a small divider of sorts. Nothing more than a small "L" shape for her to fit into and hide. She hopped up, setting herself down, and scowled, the snow settling down and down and down to match her spirit.

_It wasn't like she was truly hidden... anyone could find her from the obvious direction of her footprints anyway._

She pulled her hands from her pockets, the cold be damned, and clawed at the pale, frozen flesh underneath her coat sleeves. Her head sunk, and she bit her lower lip sharply, glaring at the milky terrain surrounding her and bathing the city of Piltover.

A broken sob tore from the depths of her sore throat. A harsh, bitter laugh escaping after, and anyone around might have been thoroughly worried and frightened that there was some insane asylum escapee in their neighborhood. She cried softly anyway, trying her best to muffle the horribly loud sound in the silent atmosphere.

Gods, everything just... hurt.

_So very cold..._

What good a sheriff was she if she couldn't even apprehend a single criminal- one that none-the-less was taking so many lives of her citizens...

She sobbed harder, if possible- choking on her own breath in short gasps as it puffed into a stale white in the frozen Winter's night air.

She clutched tightly to herself once-more, sucking greedily for air as it returned to her lungs, pushing dangerously tight on bruised, pained ribs.

She was a bigger mess than her dear city it seemed.

Her limbs continued to freeze, but she remained huddled in her small placement against the brick wall, shuddering and hugging her knees tightly as her only form of self-defense from the chill. She should head back soon regardless, but she just couldn't find the will to move any longer, opting to further her misery by weathering the elements beating around her.

_An icy tundra, cooler than that of the Freljordian winter...? _

It'd be ironic really... if she'd survived so much against Jinx only to die from exposure- buildings toppling practically on-top of her, explosions knocking debris into her, around her- everywhere. Fires, threatening to get her and her beloved enforcer burnt to a crisp- hell, even a few strong kicks to her ribs hadn't broken them, though they very well should have been shattered or threatening to puncture a lung.

Vi always said she looked delicate- almost frail in comparison to most. Maybe it was the truth, but somehow she always came through- even if in a bruised and more than just a little bloody state.

Vi and her were always opposites. Her petite frame a stark contrast to the other woman's bulkier one. She could always be easily enveloped in her enforcer when she cheered, hugged her in strong arms, and swung her around for finally apprehending a set of villians- that was, until Jinx...

There hadn't been much celebration over even the toughest of criminals once Jinx came.

_A sigh escaped cold lips. _

She really missed that jovial attitude of hers.

Vi was always so headstrong in comparison to her too... so full of hubris; knowing that no matter what, she'd always end up getting the thug- even if it meant collapsing an entire building for a petty jewel thief. She never followed the plans- no matter what would result, and often just charged in like it was nothing.

Such differences.

_Nothing more similar than fire and ice. _

But that didn't mean they didn't care for each other... they were partners after-all, always having the other's back when they needed it.

She really wished Vi was there to hold her now... at least it'd give her some form of comfort.

But she'd left the enforcer in their bed, trailing off quietly for the solitude of the night's silence.

The numb feeling of the cold reached up her shins and elbows now- screaming at her to go get into some form of warmth and out of the brisk air before she ended up with literal frostbite, and not just the frost nipping at her exposed, sensitive flesh as it had been.

A sniffle passed, a handkerchief wiping at her sore nose and swollen eyes. Purposely ignoring the _crunch, crunch, crunch _of boots as they came closer and closer to her prone, unmoving form.

A woman, her hair a hot, fiery pink, stood before her then, a blanket folded in the crook of her arm that she pulled out and threw around the small shoulders of the brunette.

_ "Cupcake...?"_ The brunette didn't respond at first, shaking her head and burying it into her knees. She figured, at least, that Vi would understand.

She seemed to, too, walking over to the broken sheriff and placing a calloused hand on her shoulder.

When she further gained no response, she hooked her arms under the ball, lifting Caitlyn into her arms and tucking her close against her chest, pecking a small kiss against snow-wet hair and nuzzling her cheek there softly for a moment, inhaling the sweet scent of her partner.

_ "Let's get you home..."_

The enforcer took her sheriff home in her arms then, drying out her hair and starting tea to warm the poor woman up.

_ "I really love you, you know."_

_ The first glimpse of warmth that day..._

Strong, rough hands stroked through dark brown locks carefully. A soft murmur escaped chapped lips beside her ear, and she could feel warm breath ghosting over her cheek before another kiss was planted against the top of her head for the second time that night.

_She was starting to warm up as drowsiness crept at her eyes and pulled on the lids._

The odd times Vi expressed her emotions in such a manner- an uncommon tenderness... That made Caitlyn's cool heart melt the ice it normally had- kindling a small fire in her chest that rose to her cheeks and spread throughout her body...

_ With so many things threatening her world from crumbling beneath her feet- wracking her whole body and anything ever known and loved to the sheriff, maybe there was only one thing to fix it and hold it together..._

Maybe Vi was all she really needed to weather it all.

_Maybe a little fire could keep the ice from chilling her heart._


End file.
